Decorating for Halloween is one of my favorite activities in the fall! Halloween is such a fun holiday, with so many decorating options (Fall, Spooky, Cutesy) that it’s almost impossible to get through all of them! There is a theme or an idea that will fit every family and their decorating ideas. This haunted house centerpiece from the dollar tree is no exception!
If your family is looking for something spooky then you might switch out the cute felt stickers with tiny skeletons or spiders. You might create some foam tombstones instead of using fall trees and your house might be decorated a bit more ominously. While we did a spookier craft earlier in the season with our Skeleton Birdcage craft today’s theme was a bit cuter! It’s a fairly simple kid-friendly craft although very young children may need help with the scissors and hot glue gun.
DIY Haunted House Centerpiece
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DIY Haunted House Centerpiece – Supplies
From the Dollar Tree
- 1 Wooden Haunted House Cutout
- Black Tempera Paint
- 2 Jewelry Stand Trees
- 4 Pairs of Novelty Party Glasses
- Silver and Gold Sparkle Tempera Paint
- Holographic Duct Tape
- Felt Halloween Stickers
- Halloween Serving Tray
- Fake Spider Webbing
From Home
- Glue Gun
- Glue Sticks
- Parchment Paper
- Scissors
DIY Haunted House Centerpiece – Directions
Step 1 – Painting!
Lay some protective plastic over a nice flat workspace and use your black tempera paint to give your wooden haunted house a spookier feel! Tempera paint is fairly thin and you might need a couple of coats before you’re happy with the look. Painting in multiple directions at once or not spreading the paint thoroughly can also leave an uneven coat that you will have to go back and cover-up.
You can avoid having to do multiple coats (and allow a nice bit of the wood grain to show through) by making sure that you paint using a larger brush to help spread the paint and use long strokes that always move in the same direction (either up and down or side to side). When you add more paint to the wood make sure that you blend it well with the previously painted sections.
these wooden forms take paint very well, I was actually quite surprised and my house took only two coats which dried pretty quickly before I was happy!
While your house is drying you can go ahead and paint a layer of black over your tree stands as well! With the trees, I only did one layer and I did allow for a few streaks in the paint to show up since it gave a bark-like effect. However, feel free to add as many layers as you like! Set them aside and allow them to dry.
Step 2 – Windows!
While your trees are drying your house should be ready to receive a bit of window treatment! Carefully remove the lenses from your novelty glasses. Mine popped out very easily with only a small amount of pressure. Make sure that you check the size of your lenses in the store to make sure they will fully cover your cut out’s windows. There were a variety of colors available at my local store but if you can’t find any you like I expect you can use some more holographic tape, colored paper or foam too!
Once you have removed your lenses use a hot glue gun to attach them to the back of your house cutout. If you opt to use paper, foam or tape for this step then you can use regular craft glue. Set aside to allow your glue to dry.
Step 3 – More Painting!
Hopefully, your tree stands have dried by now and you can go back and add some fun details. I used silver and gold sparkle paint to add some color to my trees in the form of fun fall leaves.
Step 4 – House Details
This step is slightly more difficult than the previous steps but it’s not too bad! And you can avoid it altogether by using craft foam or painting on the details, I just preferred the look of the holographic duct tape!
Since the duct tape is very sticky and does not have a sticker backing it can be difficult to cut into intricate shapes without ripping it, wrinkling it or just becoming incredibly frustrated. To get around this we are going to make a homemade sticker backing for our duct tape!
Lay your wooden house on top of a piece of parchment paper. Trace the roof shapes as best you can using a pencil. You will have to freehand part of this since the wooden shape does not show all of the roof lines but just do the best you can! Once you have the basic shape traced on the paper turn it over and lay strips of duct tape to the opposite side. You can then turn the paper back over and create a more intricate design. The parchment paper makes the duct tape easier to cut and ensures it doesn’t stick to everything while you work with it.
Once you have a design you like you can cut it out, remove the parchment paper backing and stick it to your wooden form! I used a bit of the extra pieces to make windowsills as well.
Step 5 – Add Decoration
With your house a bit more defined you can use the felt stickers to add some cute characters to your centerpiece. There were quite a few options at my local store including ghosts, pumpkins, cats, and bats! If you’re looking for something spookier, you might look for some skeletons, monsters or creepy eyes!
Have fun with your stickers! Don’t be afraid to use as many as you like! If you are nervous about how it will look at the end lay them out before taking off the backing and sticking them on!
Step 6 – Attach Everything to the Base & Finish Decorating!
Once you’re happy with your decorations you can use the hot glue gun to attach the wooden house to your serving tray base. Use a bit of glue to attach your trees as well! Once your glue is dry tear off a section of the fake spider webbing that is about the same size as your serving tray.
Make small holes in the webbing and place it over your trees and housing so that it looks like a foggy night. Set a few more of the felt stickers around the trees and fog to complete your scene. You can attach the felt stickers to the serving tray with some glue if you wish (and you know your kids/dogs/cats etc won’t leave them alone) or just prop them up so that you can move them around for fun changing scenes.
This turned out really neat. Every time you show a Dollar Tree craft project it makes me wish I had a Dollar Treat nearby. They have so many amazing things and you do such a great job coming up with these craft projects.
DollarTree’s (and really dollar stores in general) are amazing places for fun little crafts like this! They tend to make you think outside the box and I’m usually quite surprised with how things turn out! Hopefully, you’ll have a Dollar Tree near you someday!
Oh, I love this! Such a great project to get you into the Halloween spirit. The house and trees look great, and I love the fog effect. Also, how cute is the little cat in the window?!
Thanks for sharing!
Aimsy xoxo
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